圣诞树的历史

1. THE EARLY CHRISTIAN¹ CHURCH DID NOT LIKE CHRISTMAS TREES.

早期的基督教徒不喜欢圣诞树

 

Evergreen² trees used to be seen as pagan symbols that had no place in a religious celebration. As far back as 1647, preacher Johann Conrad Dannhauer of the Strasbourg Cathedral criticized trees as "child's play" that were getting more attention "than the word of God and the holy rites³." But as the tradition persisted, church leaders decided⁴ that if they couldn't beat the decorated trees, they would adopt them as part of their own Christmas celebrations.

常青树曾被视为异教徒的象征，因而不在宗教庆祝活动中使用。早在1647年，斯特拉斯堡大教堂的传道士约翰·康拉德·丹豪尔批评圣诞树是“儿童的游戏”，得到的关注比“上帝之道和神圣仪式”还要多。但是圣诞树传统一直长盛不衰，最后教会领袖决定，既然他们无法打败这种装饰过的树木，索性将其纳入圣诞庆祝活动中。

 

2. IN SOME HOMES, CHRISTMAS TREES WERE HUNG.

有的人家会把圣诞树挂起来

 

In southwest Germany during the 17th and 18th centuries, it was popular, particularly among the lower classes, to hang smaller trees from the ceiling or rafters. This allowed for a flashy display and kept the goodies in the tree out of the reach of children. Some families even hung the tree upside-down, since "pointing the root toward heaven was supposed to imbue⁵ the tree with divine powers," according to Bernd Brunner, author of Inventing the Christmas Tree.

在17、18世纪的德国西南部，很多家庭，尤其是平民百姓家，喜欢把小圣诞树挂在天花板上或房梁上。这样一来既可以展示漂亮的装饰，也能让孩子们够不到圣诞树里的糖果点心。有些家庭甚至会把圣诞树倒着挂，据《发明圣诞树》的作者贝恩特·布鲁纳说，这样做是因为“树根朝向天堂会赋予树神圣的力量”。

 

3. A PRINCE IS CREDITED WITH POPULARIZING CHRISTMAS TREES IN AMERICA.

圣诞树在美国流行起来要归功于一个亲王

 

Britain's Prince Albert is credited with helping⁶ bring the Christmas tree from his native Germany to the English-speaking world, making it a well-publicized tradition in the royal household of his wife, Queen Victoria. Godey's Lady's Book editor Sarah Josepha Hale—one of the main advocates for a national Thanksgiving holiday—played an important role in promoting Christmas trees in the US when her magazine published an illustration of the British royal family with their tree in 1850. She edited out Victoria's crown jewels, Albert's mustache and sash, and any reference to the family's identity, transforming the picture from a piece of royal marketing⁷ to a paragon⁸ of middle-class, American, Christmas celebration.

英国维多利亚女王的丈夫阿尔伯特亲王将圣诞树从他的祖国德国带到英语国家，并使其成为英国王室家庭里的一项广为人知的传统。《戈迪女士手册》杂志主编莎拉·约瑟法·哈勒为圣诞树在美国流行开来发挥了重要作用，她也是促使感恩节成为全国性节日的主要倡导者之一。当时哈勒的杂志上发表了一张描绘1850年英国王室家庭和圣诞树的插图。哈勒把维多利亚女王的王冠、阿尔伯特的胡子和肩带，以及任何会暴露王室身份的细节都去掉了，把王室宣传图改造成了美国中产阶级庆祝圣诞节的完美画面。

 

4. THE FIRST CHRISTMAS TREE MARKET LAUNCHED IN 1851.

1851年出现了第一个圣诞树集市

 

One thing slowing the adoption⁹ of Christmas trees was the burden most families faced of having to find and chop down their own trees. That began to change in 1851, when a logger from New York's Catskill Mountains loaded dozens of fir and spruce trees from his land and hauled them down to New York City's Washington Market. The harvested trees, ready to set in a living room and decorate, sold out fast and kicked off the practice of Christmas tree farms, which proliferated¹⁰ throughout the country.

过去圣诞树在美国的接受度不太高，因为多数家庭不得不自己去寻找和砍伐圣诞树。1851年这种情况开始改变了，当时纽约州卡茨基尔山上的一个樵夫从自己的土地上砍了数十棵冷杉和云杉树拉到纽约市华盛顿市场上去卖，供人们放在客厅里自行装饰。这些树很快就卖光了，自此圣诞树林场开始兴起，后来遍布美国各地。

 

5. CHRISTMAS TREES CAN BE EXTREMELY DANGEROUS.

圣诞树可能暗藏危险

 

From their earliest days, Christmas trees have been fire hazards. Before electric lights were introduced, many families set open candles on their trees to illuminate¹¹ them, which meant that each Christmas morning, the newspapers included stories of homes going up in flames when the branches ignited. Even when families abandoned the obvious hazard of open flames on the trees, the conifers could still cause major trouble once they dried out. In Philadelphia in 1878, Christmas trees caused two fires on the same street, first when a gas jet ignited a tree in a brownstone, then later that day when a dressmaker's in-store tree went up. Today, trees can still pose a hazard if they are allowed to dry out.

打从一开始，圣诞树就一直是火灾隐患。在引进电灯以前，许多家庭都是把蜡烛放在圣诞树上点亮，这意味着每个圣诞节早晨，报纸上都会有因圣诞树枝被点燃而导致家中起火的新闻。即使人们不在圣诞树上放点燃的蜡烛，针叶树在干枯后仍然会引发大麻烦。在1878年的费城，圣诞树曾在同一条街上引发了两场火灾，先是一盏煤气灯点燃了一幢褐色砂石房屋内的一棵圣诞树，晚些时候一家裁缝店内的圣诞树又着火了。时至今日，如果放任圣诞树不管让其干掉，依然可能引发火灾。

 

6. GIFTS USED TO GO IN THE TREE, NOT UNDER IT.

过去人们把礼物挂在圣诞树上，而不是放在圣诞树下

 

In its first decades in the US, Christmas trees held gifts in their branches more often than under them. Typical 19th-century reports describe a "monster Christmas tree despoiled¹² of its pendent treasures of candy, dolls, and toys of all descriptions" and a "mammoth¹³ Christmas-tree whose branches hung heavy with Christmas toys and presents for the little ones". Often these gifts included fruit, cakes, and candy that children would just pluck directly from the tree and enjoy.

在圣诞树刚被引进美国的那几十年，人们往往是在圣诞树枝上挂礼物而不是把礼物放在树下。19世纪的典型报道中是这样描述的：“巨大圣诞树上挂的各色糖果、娃娃、玩具等宝贝被一抢而空”或者“超大圣诞树的枝头沉甸甸地挂着给小朋友准备的圣诞玩具和礼物”。这些礼物通常包括水果、蛋糕和糖果，孩子们可以直接从圣诞树上摘下来享用。

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